The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said Thursday that its board of directors named Lee Kwang-hyung, a professor emeritus of the bio and brain engineering department, as the next president of the university.
| Lee Kwang-hyung, new president of KAIST / Courtesy of KAIST |
Lee earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree in industrial engineering from Seoul National University in 1978 and KAIST in 1980, respectively.
He then received his Ph.D. in computer science from France's Institut Nationale des Sciences Appliquees (INSA) de Lyon in 1985, and was appointed as a professor of computer science at KAIST in the same year.
The 67-year-old has been called "the godfather of venture startups" as he taught the country's first-generation venture entrepreneurs in the 1990s, including Kim Jung-ju, founder of the nation's largest game company Nexon, and Kim Young-dal, founder and CEO of security tech company IDIS.
The incoming president has served in various key posts, including as the dean of academic affairs and head of the international cooperation department.
In 2001, he led the establishment of the bio and brain engineering department, stressing the need for the bio-ICT convergence.
In recognition of his research achievement, he received the "Chevalier" medal from the French government in 2004 and the "DongBaek" medal from the Korean government in 2016.
He also served as chairman of the Korea chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computational Intelligence Society from 2008 to 2011.
Currently, he is a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology and the National Academy of Engineering Korea.